The Farm CPA

Paul is now part of the fourth generation in America that is involved in farming and hopes the next generation will be involved also. Through his blog he provides analysis and insight to farmer tax questions.

Motorcycle Trip Along the Minnesota River

Aug 08, 2011

On Saturday, I met up with a couple of my partners in the CPA firm in New Ulm, Minnesota to ride motorcycles. We left about 9:30 in the morning and drove out of town up onto a nice flat area with very good looking crops. We then dropped back down into the Minnesota River Vally and went along the river for about 10 miles. Or in most cases, I should say we drove along the lake. The river is still very high and in many areas, you could sell very productive farmland under water.

We continued onto toward Mankato and again the corn and beans looked to be in very good shape. Although it is hard to note heat stress from the highway. Also, smelled lots of money along the road, i.e. hog confinement facilities were everywhere.

At Lake Washington, a good size lake near Mankato, we stopped for lunch. It was very nice out on the deck eating lunch and recovering from sitting on the motorcycle. After lunch, we wandered up toward St. Peter, which at one point was either the state capital of Minnesota or had plans to be the state capital. After there, we made a beeline back to New Ulm.

All in all, a very rewarding a relaxing way to check out the farm country in Southern Minnesota.

Also, in driving from Sioux Falls to Omaha on Sunday, I noted the heavy flood damage in the Sioux City area. There appeared to be a fairly new Hilton Garden Inn that had become a island all to itself. Sand bags were placed all around it and the river was right up to the bags. Many parts of the city appeared to completely covered in water.

I crossed over on Highway 30 near Blair, Nebraska and on both sides of the road for about two miles was completely underwater. The Missouri was extremely high there, but it looked like it had started to recede a little.